Please Trust My Brand

Why?  Because I Said So!

One of the cornerstones of brand building is building trust.  Regardless of its positioning, a brand that can't be trusted is likely a brand that will not be purchased.

Many times in my career, I’ve worked with brands whose market research uncovers a 'trust' deficit.  And, as a result, ‘trust’ gets shoehorned into their marketing strategy. Unfortunately,  brands that do this have as much a chance of building trust as the proverbial polyester clad used car salesman who tells you that the car he is trying to sell you was owned by a little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays.

Like people,  the only way for brands to build trust is to be trustworthy by being true to themselves. And any attempt to try to ‘message’ trust in communications will likely backfire, and ultimately erode trust even further.  

While this seems fairly evident, there are several recent examples of well known brands attempting to tell me why I should trust them as they pull the wool over my eyes.

Last week, I was a bit astonished to receive a 17 lb package from Restoration Hardware containing a shrink wrapped stack of 13 'Source Books', including the personally irrelevant 'Baby' and 'Child' books.  But what really got my attention was the cover page of the mailing that prominently stated: 'Heavier Load = Lighter [carbon] Footprint'. 

And not only did RH call this out on the mailing, they actually issued a press release telling everyone about how this mailing was part of their sustainability initiative!  Perhaps they were  trying to overcompensate for previous criticisms of their mailings?

Personally, I was dumbfounded and, a bit insulted that RH would try to convince me of something that was so apparently disingenuous, and surprised that they could be so out of touch.

And apparently, I was not the only one to react this way. 

Twitter was abuzz with comments like: 'Wow restoration hardware not gonna be accused of tree hugging.  WTF, get the internet'

Someone was actually moved to create a 'Stop Restoration Hardware Catalog mailings'  Facebook page. 

And BloombergBusinessweek wrote a not so flattering article on  the subject.

Instead of being lauded for their sustainability, RH earned a fair amount of negative social and traditional media.This is a classic example of how a brand's actions speak volumes (no pun intended)!

The real shame here is the missed opportunity for RH to advance its true brand story.  RH states that they are 'curators of the finest design in the world'.  And the idea of producing 'sourcebooks' is actually aligned to the way a curator should behave.  And while sending a massive stack of catalogs might not be the most efficient way to reach your audience in the digital age, if you had stuck with that story, catalog recipients may or may not have liked you more, but they wouldn't have learned to mistrust you.

But this isn't an isolated case.  Earlier this year, I spent a month in Australia.  It was right around the time that General Motors announced that it would no longer produce Holden cars in Australia.  Over the years, Holden has been a unique brand in General Motors portfolio.  A brand created specifically for and built in Australia, Aussies felt a deep affinity to and pride in the brand.  Thus, Aussies felt as if they had been slapped in the face when GM decided that they would take 3,000 jobs from Australian soil, and begin importing rebadged Chevrolets from China.

While this action alone was enough to chip away at Holden brand equities, the Aussie wounded pride would likely have healed over time.  But then, Holden betrayed every Australian's trust by saturating the airwaves with a campaign entitled, 'We're Here'.  The ads feature smiley Australians staged next to Holden cars saying 'We're here', while  a voice over tells the audience that Holden has been in Australia for over 100 years, and, 'while we will no longer make cars IN Australia, we'll always make cars FOR Australia' .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XZndLtBfoU

Needless to say, the Aussie audience was not fooled.  This ad, instead of instilling confidence and trust in Holden fired up the negative earned media machine with

Tweets like: 'Dear Holden, your 'We're Here' ad is utterly ridiculous...you won't be here...cut the crap', and numerous parodies on YouTube.  

And of course, it earned negative editorial press. 

Holden, like all brands should have known better than to try to message trust.  For in the end, a brand's behavior will define it better for its audiences than any words it chooses to use to describe itself.

Of course, Holden is owned by General Motors, the company that was recently exposed for  instructing their employees to use deceptive words to cover up dangerous product defects.